Leg support



Aug. 2, 1966 B. HANSBURG LEG SUPPORT Filed April 8, 1965 R O T N E V ole' B, HAA/je U/QQ BY I /2ed IW V ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,264,033 LEG SUPPORT George B. Hansburg, Hausburg Acres, Walker Valley, N.Y. Filed Apr. 8, 1965, Ser. No. 446,604 1 Claim. (Cl. 297-438) This invention relates to the art of leg supports, more particularly for use in situations where it is desired to maintain the lower porton of the leg and feet in an elevated position.

As conducive to an understanding of the invention, it is noted that a variety of situations exist in which it is necessary or desirable for those suffering from leg ailments to maintain their legs in a horizontal position. Such patients are often confined to bed for this purpose. Confinements to bed is however, not a necessity in a great number of cases and it would suffice if the patient were merely to maintain the afflicted extremity in a horizontal position without being confined to bed. The use of stools and foot rests for this purpose is often not satisfactory due to the fact that such supports may not be of the desired height. Furthermore, due to the weight and bulk of such footrest or stool, its movement to different parts of the home, especially by an invalid, is not always feasible.

It is accordingly among the primary objects of the invention to provide a leg support adapted to maintain the legs of a user in a desired elevated position while seated in conventional chairs, or the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a leg support which is readily adjustable to any desired height to maintain the leg in desired elevated position.

A further object of the invention is to provide a leg support of the above type which may be fabricated from relatively light weight material without sacrificing strucrtural rigidity.

Another object of the invention isto provide a leg support which may readily be carried from place to place and arranged in desired position.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a leg support which may readily be collapsed to facilitate carrying thereof and storage when not in use.

According to the invention, these objects are accomplished by the arrangement and combination of elements hereinafter described and more particularly recited in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention;

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a leg support made in accordance with the teachings of this invention shown in operative position,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the leg support of FIG. 1 shown in collapsed carrying or storage position,

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1 showing the pivot connection between the support frame and the strut member,

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 1 through the lower portion of the strut, and

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of the forces acting on the leg support.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the leg support 10, as illustratively shown in the drawings, comprises a substantially U-shaped strut member 11 having hollow legs 12 and 13 connected by -a transverse base portion 14. The strut 11 is preferably formed from tubular material, and the legs 12 and 13 are provided with foot portions 15 and 16 respectively, which also are of tubular material, telescopically arranged with respect to the legs 12 and 13 as best seen in FIG. 4.

In the illustrated embodiment, the legs 12 and 13 are formed with a plurality of longitudinally spaced aper- Patented August 2, 1966 tures 17 in which spring-pressed detent 18 is engaged. As shown in FIG. 4, the detent illustratively is a rod having its outer end rounded as at 19 and having its other end secured to the free end of a leaf spring 21 secured by nivets 22 within the tubular foot portion at its upper end, the detent 18 being urged through opening 23 in the tubular foot portion into an associated aperture 17 in legs 12 and 13 releasably to retain the foot portion in desired position. Friction shoes 25 are provided at the free end of foot portions 15 and 16, as best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2.

Mounted on strut member 11 is a support frame 31 of U-shaped configuration having spaced legs 33 and 34 joined by a transverse base portion 35. Legs 33 and 34 straddle legs 12 and 13 of strut member 11, and a retaining bar 36 extends between and is secured to the legs 33 and 34 near the free ends thereof.

Secured as by screws 39 to the 'base portion 35 of support member 31 is one end of an elongated rectangular support panel 42. The other end of panel 42 at each corner thereof as best seen in FIG. 3, is secured by rivets 43 to the horizontal legs 44 of brackets 45, the vertical legs 41 of which are pivotally secured to the legs 12, 13 of strut member 11 by means of transverse pivot pins 47. Each of the pivot pins 47 has a portion 48 which extends laterally beyond the associated leg 12, 13 and which forms a stop against which the free ends of the legs 33, 34 of frame 31 abut to limit downward movement of legs 33, 34 with respect to legs 12, 13 of strut 11.

In use, the leg support is set up from the collapsed position illustrated in FIG. 2 to the operative position illustrated in FIG. 1 by manually gripping base portion 14 of strut 11 and pivoting the strut 11 so that its legs 12, 13 abut against retaining bar 36 of support frame 31. When the base portion 14 is separated from base portion 35 to its maximum, as viewed in FIG. 1, the strut member 11, support frame 31, and support panel 40 will define a triangle as schematically shown in FIG. 5.

In this operative orientation, the leg support may be positioned adjacent a chair or the like seating surface so that the support panel 40 functions as an extension of the seating surface on which a leg may be supported as seen in FIG. 1. It is found that where the strut 15 is angled to the orientation shown in FIG. 5, the positioning of the leg or legs of the user on the support 40 serves to provide a turning moment M in FIG. 5 which resists the collapsing force C tending to cause the support to fall. As a result, the leg support is maintained stable and serves to support a leg in the desired elevated position.

As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, adjustment of the leg rest to a desired height is readily accomplished by moving the detents 19 inwardly and pushing the foot port-ions 15 and 16 to a desired position until the detents snap into an opening 17 in the associated legs 12 and 13 so that a desired elevation for the support 40 will be obtained.

When it is desired to move the support or collapse same for storage purposes, this is readily accomplished by merely bringing the base portion 14 of the strut 11 towards the support panel 40 so that the entire supporting structure collapses to the position illustrate-d in FIG. 2.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, or shown in the accompanying drawings, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

A leg rest comprising a substantially U-shaped strut member having a pair of legs and a base, a substantially asst-.033

U-shaped frame member having pair of legs and a base, a support member comprising a rectangular panel having one end rigidly connected to the base of said U-shaped frame, the other end of sai-d panel having a pair of L-shaped brackets secured to the respective edges thereof, said brackets being respectively pivotally connected to the legs of said strut member, each of said pivot connections comprising a pin, said brackets being positioned on the inner sides of the legs of the strut member with the pins extending laterally outward beyond the outer sides of the legs of the strut member, the exten-ding ends of said pins defining stops, the legs of said frame straddling the legs of said strut member and being movable with respect thereto, said frame legs being adapted to abut against said stops thereby limiting the movement of said frame memaber, arcross bar connecting the free e n'ds of the legs of said frame and adapted to abut against the legs of said strut member to retain said support in fixed position with respect to said strut member, said strut member having References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 1,979,152 10/1934 Green et al. 297-438 2,735,480 2/1956 Mead 297-438 3,051,527 8/ 1962 McKenna 297-439 3,119,356 l/1964 Sauer 108-8 3,164,351 1/1965 Rembowski 248-1884 FRANCIS ZUGEL, Acting Pr'imary'Exam'inerr CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Examiner. 

